The Iona Heights Inn

Cape Breton Celtic Trad Sessions
2025-08-10 16:30 - 19:30, 2025-08-17 16:30 - 19:30, 2025-08-24 16:30 - 19:30, 2025-08-31 16:30 - 19:30, 2025-09-07 16:30 - 19:30, 2025-09-14 16:30 - 19:30, 2025-09-21 16:30 - 19:30, 2025-09-28 16:30 - 19:30 (America/Halifax) | The Frolic’n Folk Pub & Grill, 4115 HWY 223, Iona, Nova Scotia, B2C 1A3, Canada
Come and enjoy a casual gathering of musicians who have come together to play traditional Cape Breton celtic music.
Anyone is welcome to join in, or just sit back and enjoy the tunes.
Sundays at The Frolic 430 – 730pm
Full kitchen and bar service.
Minors allowed till 10pm

East Pointers Redux
2025-08-12 20:00 - 22:00
Adding to their volumes of East Coast myth-making, The East Pointers’ forthcoming anthology of celebratory anthems and incendiary tune sets is a natural evolution of playing to ‘hometown’ crowds of thousands the world over, full family kitchen parties and an honest reckoning with heartbreak and victory.
Still channeling Koady Chaisson as a writing partner, Tim Chaisson (fiddle, vocals, guitar) and Jake Charron (keys, guitar, vocals) have alchemised the love, grief and experience of years of musical map-making, traveling, partying and friendship into an album that captures heroic joy, sharp pain, courageous expansion, lonely challenges and triumphant homecoming.
In their ten year career, The East Pointers have gathered many accolades, winning a JUNO for their debut album Secret Victory and further nominations for their double EP House of Dreams and Safe in Sound, and multiple East Coast Music and Music PEI awards. Alongside traveling the world and supporting their community through such initiatives as Koady’s Stay Cool Swim Cold challenge, which has raised thousands of dollars for diverse charities, and Annedemic: The East Pointers and Friends Read Anne of Green Gables, they are also the founding directors of Goolaholla! festival, a gift of love and music to Tim and Koady’s hometown of Souris.
Their base in Canada’s smallest province, Prince Edward Island, provides both inspiration and challenge, and a sensibility tempered by grueling winters, short-lived golden summers and a tight-knit community of some of the best songwriters and musicians in the world. Confidently grounded by the band’s traditional roots and spotlighting their most honest songwriting to date in an album that is jubilant, entrancing and frank by turns, The East Pointers continue their legacy of packing the dancefloor while celebrating the Sisyphian task of being human.
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The East Pointers
2025-08-13 20:00 - 22:00

Trivia Night at The Frolic
2025-08-14 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-08-21 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-08-28 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-09-04 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-09-11 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-09-18 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-09-25 20:00 - 22:00, 2025-10-02 20:00 - 22:00
Come test your wits & win prizes!
3 Rounds – 12 general knowledge questions each round.
Play solo, or form a team. Funniest team name gets showered with accolades.
Hosted by your man – Ruarí Aonghas Lonce Murphy, every Thursday Night

Céilidh Matinee
2025-08-16 17:00 - 20:00, 2025-08-23 17:00 - 20:00, 2025-08-30 17:00 - 20:00, 2025-09-06 17:00 - 20:00, 2025-09-13 17:00 - 20:00, 2025-09-20 17:00 - 20:00, 2025-09-27 17:00 - 20:00
Get a taste of local celtic music & culture with our Saturday ceilidhs (kay-lee).
Expect to see world-renowned talent & budding entertainers from all over our native Cape Breton.
General admission seating $5 cover
First come first serve at the pub. No reservations. Minors allowed up until 10PM

Old Man Luedecke
2025-08-20 20:00 - 22:00
Old Man Luedecke is the recording name of two time JUNO award winning and Polaris prize nominated singer songwriter Chris Luedecke. A multiple East Coast Music Award winner known for his high energy banjo driven stompers, touching guitar ballads and dry humorous stories, Luedecke has been making a soundtrack to an authentic life for nearly twenty years.
Born in Toronto and long time resident of the country near Chester Nova Scotia, Luedecke began recording in the early 2000’s DIY folk scene of Halifax. He made his two JUNO winning albums for Black Hen Music in the late 00s with Steve Dawson as producer at Vancouver’s famed Factory studio. While on a tour of England in 2009, he met and supported folk roots legend Tim O’Brien who produced Luedecke’s next two albums. Tender is the Night was recorded at John’s Prine’s Butcher Shoppe Studio in Nashville in 2012 and 2015’s Domestic Eccentric was recorded in a cabin Luedecke built himself at his home in NS. 2019 saw Luedecke recording Easy Money at both the Banff Centre in Alberta and at Hotel2Tango in Montreal.
Songs like “I Quit My Job” at the beginning of his career and “The Early Days” at the beginning of his family and dozens of other fan favourites trace a warm line of effort, sadness and joy and provide a soundtrack to many peoples’ own progress through adulthood, touching a rare place of truth and charm in the holiness of the mundane. His performing style with his easy going humour and storytelling creates a rare space of hopeful and intimate magic.
Luedecke has kept up many worldwide concert appearances, playing in Europe and around Canada and the USA and six trips to Australia, including a memorable tour where his whole young family travelled with him around rural Queensland for the Festival of Small Halls.
In May 2022 Luedecke was awarded an honorary doctorate from King’s University in Halifax for his cultural contributions.

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J.P. Cormier
2025-08-27 20:00 - 22:00
Nobody really knows who J.P. Cormier is for sure. That’s to be expected, believe me.
In 1974 he was a five year old boy, discovering an innate talent for playing the guitar, I had a little hand in that, guiding him through the beginning stages. He learned faster than I could teach.
By the mid eighties, not out of his teens, he was a sideman for bands and artists of many different genres in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and all across the deep south. As he travelled and worked he added more and more instruments to his arsenal of capabilities. He became indispensable to the bands he worked for.
In the early Nineties, he became a sideman for one of Canada’s favourite sons, Stompin’ Tom Connors and also became a staple of the recordings at Studio H in Halifax. His work with the CBC there, spanned musical, production and arranging duties.
All this before he was 20.
In the mid nineties he reentered the musical scene of his beloved East Coast and the Island called Cape Breton. He exploded onto the trad music scene there as a fiddler, performing some of the most difficult music ever produced by legends like Winston Fitzgerald and Angus Chisholm with a facility that stunned onlookers. Especially those who knew he wasn’t born there, but born in Ontario to Cape Breton parents. Somehow, some way, his music was the real thing, sounding like he had been steeped continually in a handed-down brew of family tradition from the old country.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
His previous gig was in Nashville playing mandolin and banjo in a grammy nominated bluegrass gospel band and performing on the Opry, and playing television shows with the likes of Waylon Jennings. All those people also thought he was one of them, American, reared in the ways of bluegrass, old time and Americana music. They knew he was from Canada, but it just didn’t seem possible.
Then in 1997, something amazing happened.
An album released in Canada, out of nowhere, called Another Morning. This time it was him as a songwriter and a lead singer.
And what a songwriter he turned out to be. Some of the performances on that album are literally part of the musical vocabulary today in the East Coast. Songs like the title cut, and Kelly’s Mountain, The Molly May (co written with his cousin Gervais) and others. It inspired, 25 years ago, some of the biggest names in the business today. People like Dave Gunning, Matt Andersen, David Myles, Joel Plaskett, all of which will tell you: that record changed things.
The Canadian industry thought so too, and it received a juno nomination and won an ECMA.
And that was just the beginning.
36 years later after stepping on stage as professional union musician for the first time at the tender age of 13, JP is still going, and frighteningly, still getting better.
16 albums followed the success of Another Morning, winning 12 more ECMA’s, another Juno nomination, a Canadian Folk Music Award and 5 Music Nova Scotia Awards. Each album was a snapshot of each thing that he can do. There are fiddle albums, Mandolin, Banjo, Guitar, tribute records, songwriting collections, a purely astounding spectrum of talent and musical vision.
His catalogue of recordings and the 150 or so records he’s produced on other artists, resemble the tapestry he weaves in live performance. Where he used to carry 3 and 4 piece bands, he tours alone now.
Just him and the instruments.
People still leave his shows confused, amazed and wondering what they just saw. Did they see a storyteller? A Songwriter? Arguably one of the best guitar players in the business today? Someone who crosses the lines between different instruments like there are no lines? Who was that masked man, anyway?
Accolades aside, and there are many from people like Chet Atkins, Marty Stuart, Waylon Jennings, Gordon Lightfoot; JP sees himself as just a performer. He’s shy, but has a razor sharp wit and lightning sense of humour. He can be reserved or edgy to the point no return. He speaks for soldiers, first responders, other artists, the forgotten and lost. He speaks sometimes only for himself and refuses rebuttal.
Of all the things he is, foremost he is an entertainer. I think one of the best. After you’ve seen what he does, I’m certain you will too.

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Lennie Gallant
2025-09-03 20:00 - 22:00
East Coast songwriter Lennie Gallant has released fifteen albums of original songs which have won him a host of awards and nominations from the JUNOs, Les Prix Éloizes, and The ECMAs. His songs have been described as “true slices of life delivered with a poet’s flair and a rugged emotional sensibility”. His multimedia production, Searching for Abegweit, ran for 190 shows in Eastern Canada. His song Peter’s Dream, from that show, was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Lennie is an international artist who has performed all over North America and Europe. His songs have been covered by many artists and he has shared the stage with several orchestras and with performers such as Lucinda Williams, Patti Griffin and Roger Hodgson. He has performed with the late Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers and with David Foster and his band. Lennie struck up a friendship with Jimmy, has two co-writes on his upcoming posthumous album, and was invited to sing on both songs. One of Lennie’s albums also went up to the international space station and circled the planet 248 times. His album, Time Travel, was voted a top ten Album of the Year by a panel of Canadian music industry personnel, and his recent all original Christmas album has received rave reviews.
He and partner Patricia Richard also record and perform as the popular Francophone duo, Sirène et Matelot. Their songs have achieved strong radio play in francophone circuits and have consistently remained on the charts! Lennie Gallant is a member of The Order of Canada and has been recognized for his humanitarian efforts.
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Lookout Tower with special guest Mike McKenna Jr
2025-09-19 20:00 - 22:00
Winter Swamp Music! Lookout Tower hails from memories of days gone by and of moments yet to come. Storytellers inspired by the cultural landscape of Cape Breton and woven from the yarn of hard times – their songs are the culmination of musical paths not commonly crossed. Defying genres with a no holds barred approach, vintage soul meets modern Americana, where old-time harmonies and bluesy influences are dashed with Acadian roots, creating their original Winter Swamp Sound – a sonic palette of soulful ballads, rousing blues rock and hypnotic funk. Their albums have been nominated for multiple ECMAs.
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Singer-songwriter Mike McKenna Jr. is an award-winning artist from Cape Breton Island. With a raspy and soulful voice, his warm indie folk and Americana tones decorate powerful original and traditional songs laden with captivating storytelling. Born in Glace Bay and raised along the Mira River, Mike’s songwriting aesthetic points heavily to his roots growing up in small-town industrial Cape Breton. Over the course of 4 studio albums, including his latest record ‘Smokey Mountain High’, he brings us the nostalgia of his home through profoundly-written narrative, poetry, protest, and true stories about life and death in Nova Scotia’s coastal, working-class communities.
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John Chiasson Trio
2025-10-03 19:00 - 21:00
Music brings people together. Music inspires us to go beyond what we see and strive for more. It makes us want to stand up for ourselves, save the world, and fall in love. Every now and then you find yourself lost in a piece that reminds you of times gone by, adventures to come, and the people who weave in and out of our lives. When The John Chiasson Trio started making music over 25 years ago, they couldn’t have known the impact they’d have on fans around the world. Individually, John Chiasson, Charlie
Cooley, and Dave Staples have written, produced, engineered, scored, and taught music in a way that has influenced others in all corners of the globe; but when they get together, it is, as the old saying goes, where the magic happens.
As an established musical group that celebrates that beauty and mystery of jazz around the world, The John Chiasson Trio reminds you that inspiration comes in many forms and the members invite you into their world where you’ll not only appreciate the smooth-sounding soul of jazz, but you’ll discover new ways of looking at music. Jazz music is for everyone, but it speaks to everyone in a different way. You just need to listen. And when you listen to the Trio, you’ll find yourself lost in deep and rich melodies that are inspired by music of all shapes and sizes. Providing audiences with show-stopping performances and an energy that leaves you wondering why you didn’t start listening to
these guys sooner, you’ll find yourself a fan of the jazz world and have a new appreciation for what is possible when three musicians care about the music as much as they care about entertaining their audience.
J o h n C h i a s s o n
Described as a musician in a class of his own, John Chiasson has been a celebrated musician throughout Nova Scotia for over 40 years. Whether he’s shining on stage or perfecting his sound in a studio session, John is dedicated to delighting and creating an experience that reminds people why they love music. John enjoys playing instruments as much as he loves singing and values the diversity and challenge of each. Having worked with the likes of Lennie Gallant, Scott Parsons, The Rankin Family Band, Natalie MacMaster, and Myles Goodwin, John lends his smooth vocals to a wide range of musicians and enjoys blending his strong musical talents with a variety of Nova Scotian artists. Drawing on several influences, John blends his love of soulful jazz with rich music such as swing, Latin, blues, and more. In any situation, John brings his talents to stages around the world and has continued to call Nova Scotia home. Hailed as multi-talented musician with a precision voice that lends well to jazz, John puts on show-stopping performances for his audiences near and far. When John isn’t playing music, he expresses his creativity through photography and enjoys connecting with people who share his love of creation and broadening the awareness of jazz music throughout Canada and the world’s stage.
D A V E S T A P L E S
Dave Staples is a veteran East Coast performer and music educator and maintains a busy freelance career as a pianist, trombonist, composer and recording artist. Dave has performed and recorded with such artists and groups a s Mike Murley, Renee R o s e s , Kenny Wheeler, Kurt Elling, Omar Hakim, the Maritime Jazz Orchestra and Bicoastal Collective as well as numerous East Coast musicians and ensembles, including John Chiasson, Ian Janes, Scott and the Rocks, Mike Cowie, Latin Groove, the Blakey Project, the Mingus Project, the Horace Silver Tribute Band, the Halifax Trombone Summit, the Back Alley Big Band and his own Dave Staples Septet. In 1995, he received the East Coast Music Award (ECMA) with Jeff Goodspeed as Jazz Artists of the Year for their album release of “Eastern Passage”(CBC Productions) and is featured on the 2006 ECMA Jazz Album of the Year “Tom Roach: Piano Trios “(CBC Productions).
Dave taught instrumental music with the Halifax Regional School Board for over 30 years and is co-founder and director of the Nova Scotia Honour Jazz program, which
has worked with talented students of jazz in Nova Scotia for the last 25 years. He has also served a s a board member of JazzEast and was on the Canadian Executive Board
of the International Association for Jazz Education a s Newsletter Editor and Director of Communications from 2003 to 2008.
Charlie Cooley
Charlie Cooley is one of Canada’s most in-demand drummers. He has performed and/or recorded with such artists as: Leonard Cohen, Randy Brecker, The Guess Who, Long John Baldry, Anne Murray, Sass Jordan, Amanda Marshall, K.D. Lang, Jimmy Rankin, and The Blues Brothers (musical director – Paul Shaffer)
Charlie is also a member of the Juno Award winning world beat jazz ensemble Manteca. Charlie has been the in-house drummer for many of Canada’s award shows such as The Junos Awards, The East Coast Music Awards, The Gemini Awards, The Canadian Country Music Awards, and the Canada Day Celebrations from Parliament Hil (CBC)
“When I’m playing music – in whatever situation – I’m thinking – what can I do best to support the music? My goal is to help the composition speak directly to the listener.’
